


get me out into the night time

by OneDreamADay



Series: human nature [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 09:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12956268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneDreamADay/pseuds/OneDreamADay
Summary: For as long as you can remember, the White Room is all you’ve known. It’s where you sleep, where the men bring you food, and where Papa visits you.(RoleSwapAU)





	1. Green Willow

**Author's Note:**

> Jumping aboard the role reversal train that seems to be getting popular fast.  
> Brownie points to peeps who figure out what a green willow means. (and yes, all future titles will have a plant/ flower as a reference to something related to the story. because i'm extra like that.)
> 
> unbeta'ed, so any and all mistake are my own.

    For as long as you can remember, the White Room is all you’ve known. It’s where you sleep, where the men bring you food, and where Papa visits you.

    “You are very important to us, Eleven,” Papa tells you, always. “You’re very special, Eleven.”

    “Special?” You repeat the word. “Me?”

    Papa pulls you into a hug. Smiles at you. You smile back. “Always, Eleven.”

     - - - - - -

    Today you’re doing what Papa calls an ‘experiment.’ You have to break things with your mind. It’s hard and you hear Papa repeat over and over, focus, Eleven, focus.

    But can only make the wood in front of you crack a little. Papa sighs, and you know that means Papa is mad. Not doing what Papa wants sometimes means the Dark Room. It means Papa telling you over and over “I’m disappointed, Eleven.” It’s watching as you’re dragged down the hall screaming while Papa does nothing to help.

    You don’t want the Room, you don’t want to disappoint Papa, so you try harder and harder until the wood beaks and Papa gives you a pat on the head and says ‘Good job.’

     - - — -

     _There’s a woman holding you. A woman who smells nice, and she tells you she loves you. A girl is next to you, making faces and laughing and you feel warm and safe._

     - —- - -   

 

    “Do I have a Mama?” You ask Papa one day when he visits you.

    Papa gives you a long look and says nothing before he leaves without saying anything.

    You don’t ask again.

     — — -

     You don’t like the Neither. It’s dark and cold. You don’t like the Monster. It scares you. But this is important to Papa, and you’ve learned by now saying no to Papa is a Bad Thing and that means the Dark Room.

    You see the Monster; you do as Papa says and try to reach out.

    - - - - -

    There are alarms baring all around you, hurried footsteps and men shouting because the Monster is inside the building. No one’s paying any attention to you - too focused on the Monster and the gate that you made.

    Thinking quickly, before anyone can stop you, you crawl through a vent and run from the Bad Men, the Monster, and Papa as far as you can.


	2. Red Primrose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this will the only story in this whole series that will be in the second POV. Every story from here on will be in the third POV

It feels like you’ve been running for a long time. Your feet are bleeding, and every time you step down on the ground, the bottom of your feet hurt.

Still, you like the coolness of being outside. It’s different from the coldness inside the lab where Papa is.

He’s probably looking for you now. Does he miss you? Is he mad that you ran away? Or sad?

You’ve never seen Papa cry, so probably not mad.

You wonder if Papa loves you like he says he does. He only says it when you use your powers, so maybe he only really loves you then. Otherwise, he won’t let you go to that dark room when you don’t do what he says.

A smell hits your nose and your stomach makes a noise. It reminds you that you haven’t eaten today.

You walk in the back door, where the smell is the strongest. A group of men are talking around a table, but they don’t see you sneaking in.

You see food on a table. You grab it, stuffing it in your mouth as fast as you can. It’s good, not like the food they fed you in the lab. It’s warm.

“Hey!” One of the men barks at you and you try to run with the food on your hand, but he catches you, screams “you think you can steal from me, boy?” in your face, and you do the first thing that comes to mind.

You cry.

The mean look seems to disappear from the man’s face and he seems to wilt a little. “C’mon, kid, don’t do that.”

You sniff, wiping at your nose. He sighs. “Look, boy, you can’t go stealing food from me. Ain’t cool.”

The man sighs. “I’m Benny. This is my diner, like the sign says. What’s your name?”

You didn’t see a sign, but you don’t tell him that. “Eleven,” is what you tell him instead.

“Asked for your name, but age. But we’re getting somewhere, I guess.”

He leads you to a back room, grabs a yellow t-shirt, and points to a door that has a picture of a figure on it.

“Go change in there. And wipe off your face. I make you something real fast.”

That sounded like an order, and you’re good at following orders, so you do what he says. The t-shirt is almost as long as the gown you were in, except it doesn’t itch as much. You wipe your face with a piece of paper towel and water. It’s a little too hot, but you do feel better once you’ve wiped all the dirt off your face.

You sit down at a table right when Benny brings you some food. It smells even better right in front of you and you eat it as fast as you can. It’s hot and you burn your tongue, but you don’t care. It's just you and Benny now, the other men had left, it seems, when you changing.

“So, let’s try this again. What your name?”

You ignore him, too focused on the food.

“Where are your parents? Where do you stay?”

You don’t want to answer that, so you ignore those questions too.

Benny yanks the food away from you and you look up, surprised.

“You want the food back? Gotta answer the questions.”

“Eleven.” You say.

“Yeah, that’s a number, not an age.”

You show him your number. _011._ “Eleven.”

Benny gets up and walks away, muttering under his breath.

You look up from your food long enough to make the squeaking of the fan stop.

\- - — - -

It’s dark outside now, and Benny gives you something called ice cream. It’s cold, and it’s good. You like it.

“You like chocolate, huh?”

You’ve never had chocolate before, but if this is what it is, it’s good. He even lets you eat it straight out the box

This is the best day ever, you think.

There’s a knock at the door, and Benny goes to answer it. There’s a woman there, but you don’t recognize her. She looks nice.

When Benny has his back turned, the woman pulls out a gun and shoots him.

You run towards the back door, but two men are there waiting, guns raised.

You reach out with your powers to stop them, then run out towards the woods.

\- - — - —

There’s water falling from the sky and you’re not sure how far you’ve run, but you don’t hear any of the Bad Men behind you, so you think you’re safe for now.

You’re tired and it’s cold.

There are voices shouting, and you see lights. Then there a light shining on your a face and you see three other kids- a girl and two boys- staring at you.

 


End file.
